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The community organizer gambit

by: bloomingpol

Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 16:28:50 PM EST
I have always been interested in Obama's early work as a community organizer, probably because I came to realize that I have done some of that as well, organizing a Democratic town committee, persuading people to work on town committees, helping to start the farmers market, etc.  I never really thought about the ones who got involved because they had an agenda quite different from those who really wanted to accomplish a particular goal, maybe because they usually disappeared after the second or third meeting when they realized they were outnumbered, but I was taken by this argument about what Obama is doing with the health care meeting he is convening on the 25th.
bloomingpol :: The community organizer gambit
Jonathan Chait says:

I still find it strange how little understood President Obama's political method is. The first person I know who identified it is Mark Schmitt, over two years ago. At the time, many liberals viewed Obama's inclusive rhetoric as a sign that he intended to capitulate the liberal agenda for the sake of winning Republican agreement. Schmitt disagreed. Obama's language is highly conciliatory, he wrote, but the method isn't:

"One way to deal with that kind of bad-faith opposition is to draw the person in, treat them as if they were operating in good faith, and draw them into a conversation about how they actually would solve the problem. If they have nothing, it shows. And that's not a tactic of bipartisan Washington idealists -- it's a hard-nosed tactic of community organizers, who are acutely aware of power and conflict. It's how you deal with people with intractable demands -- put 'em on a committee."

Sometimes I am not sure my fascination with how people interact politically is healthy.  But I can't seem to help hoping I will find something I can use here in my little political world to make a difference.

My friend Bob Perry has a great signature line that I love:

"People often say with pride 'I'm not interested in politics.'
They might as well say 'I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future ...'
If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics."
Martha Gellhorn (1909-1998), American travel writer, novelist, and journalist.

h/t to NLinStPaul
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The community organizer gambit | 3 comments
Right. I'm still waiting to see how long it takes (0.00 / 0)
for people to figure out that palling around with Obama is not necessarily in their own selfish interest, in the long run.
organize! with hope, truth, and the confidence that comes with an absence of fear! (0.00 / 0)
the one true way to challenge untruths is be confident in the truth.  That is another basis of Pres. Obama's approach to the massive problems people are facing - ESPECIALLY on health care.

Not only does he clearly connect the truth that when one out of ten employable Americans is out of work, that means they are potentially losing their health care... but he also has LIVED this issue in such a deeply personal way. People forget that about him, too, but that's a separate reason to admire his dedication to eliminating the suffering that his own family has endured... but I digress...

Bloomingpol, I too have thought about his organizer past much too frequently.  He intrigues and inspires me.  President Obama is a true role model to me as a result of knowing this...

This prescient article sticks in my memory:

They expressed admiration for him as an organizer who trained strong community leaders while keeping himself in the background and as a strategist who could turn general problems into specific, winnable issues. Loretta Augustine-Herron, a member of the DCP board that hired him, remembers him as someone who always followed the high road. "You've got to do it right," she recalls him insisting. "Be open with the issues. Include the community instead of going behind the community's back--and he would include people we didn't like sometimes. You've got to bring people together. If you exclude people, you're only weakening yourself. If you meet behind doors and make decisions for them, they'll never take ownership of the issue."
(bold highlighting from me...)

Motivating a person to draw upon their own story - especially if it's a difficult one that can be transpired to make some good in this world - to help people pick up their own true power is crucial.  The average person doesn't see how much power they have, given their rights to free speech, assembly and votes.  EVERYONE can matter, if they act on it!  

Using stories to organize a community is central to his approach learned from organizing poor communities on the South Side of Chicago.

Those that see this approach as manipulative are wrong.  It's the epitome of the high road, where one meets people RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE, WITH WHAT THEY HAVE!  Very pragmatic of him.  Even if they don't like or agree with them.  Do it without being disagreeable.


Be the Change you wish to see in the world (Gandhi)

Thanks for your insight! (0.00 / 0)
It is a challenge in these times to keep plugging.  I, for one, need to keep looking for a way to make a difference.

We believe in prosperity & opportunity, strong communities, healthy families, great schools, investing in our future and leading the world by example. We are Democrats; we are the change you're looking for.
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The community organizer gambit | 3 comments

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